Techmeme
December 29, 2013, 12:55 AM

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David Kravets / Wired:
Obama's NSA Phone Spying Reforms Might Make Things Worse  —  President Barack Obama turned heads just days before Christmas when he announced that he is “seriously” considering following the recommendations set forth by an advisory panel, which he appointed, that suggested a major overhaul …
Gregg Keizer / Computerworld:
Chromebooks' success punches Microsoft in the gut  —  Amazon, NPD Group trumpet sales of the bare-bones laptops in 2013 to consumers and businesses  —  Chromebooks had a very good year, according to retailer Amazon.com and industry analysts.  —  And that's bad news for Microsoft.
John Gruber / Daring Fireball:
2013: The Year in Apple and Technology at Large  —  Christopher Mims, writing for Quartz, “2013 Was a Lost Year for Tech”: … What a sad pile of piss-on-everything cynicism.  —  Was 2013 a seminal or particularly extraordinary year for technology?  No, I'd say not.
Gerry Shih / Reuters:
Reddit anticipates profitability through expansion of Reddit Gifts  —  Reddit reaches for profits through a geek-culture bazaar  —  (Reuters) - Social news hub Reddit snagged an interview with Barack Obama last year.  The big get for 2013 was reaching 90 million unique visitors a month …
Stanley White / Reuters:
Sony to give up on sale of its battery unit: media  —  (Reuters) - Japan's Sony Corp has decided not to sell its lithium-ion battery unit, media reported on Sunday, in a gamble that it can turn the business around with a weak yen and growing demand for smart phone batteries.
Nitasha Tiku / Valleywag:
Paul Graham Says Women “Haven't Been Hacking For the Past 10 Years”  —  The Information just proved that it's worth the $400 price of admission.  On display in an interview with Y Combinator cofounder Paul Graham is the clearest picture of Silicon Valley's unacknowledged sexism to ever find its way in print.
RT:
French broadcasting watchdog CSA eager to tax YouTube, Facebook, Dailymotion  —  France's Superior Council of Audiovisual, an independent broadcasting authority, wants to impose taxes on media giants like YouTube, Facebook and Dailymotion to force them to contribute to financing French culture.

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